Device



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

L. GEISLER.

RAILROAD SWITCHING DEVICE.

No. 534,954. A Patented Feb. 26, 1895.

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N0;.534,954. 'Patented Feb. 26, 1895.

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UNrTED STATES PATENT t. Ormes..

VILLIAM L. GEISLER, OF I-IEMPSTEAD, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO LOUIS HAEBERLF., OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

RAILROAD swlTcHlNe DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION' forming part of Letters Patent No. 534,954, dated February 26, 18915. Application filed November 21, 1894. Serial No. 529,432. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern.;

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. GEISLER, of Hempstead, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Railroad Switching Device, of

which the following is afull, clear, and exact Y of the switch tongue is pivoted in the usual description.

My invention relates to improvements in switching-devices for railroads, and particularly to such apparatus as is employedto al-A ter the position of a swinging switch tongue on the track of a street railway, by co-acting mechanism on a moving car that traverses the railway.

The object of my invention is to provide novel, simple mechanism for the car and rail- 4way track, which will afford convenient and reliable means for the shitting movement of a swing tongue by an operator on a street railway car approaching the switch.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a partof this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a sectional side view of a car in part, and a railway track at a switch, show- Ving the improved mechanism on the car having contact with the novel deviceon the track which when actuated by the car mechanism shifts the switch tongue. Fig. 2 is a plan View of the improvement that is located on a railway track at a switch. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view of the device shown in Fig. 2, the track being in dotted lines. Fig. 4 `is a transverse sectional view, on the line 4t-t in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a side view in part of a car, showing the tongue-shifting mechanism thereon. Fig. 6 is an inverted plan view of the novel details of construction shown on the car in Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is a front view of the improved mechanism on the car that when actuated shifts the tongue of a switch through novel devices on the track.

A indicatesa portion of a street railway car, A..the car platform, B the car wheels, and O the railway track, all of ordinary construction.

The improveddevice, located in an excavation C ofl the road bed whereon the track O is placed, will first be described, and as shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the excavation G', that is formed in the road bed between the rails of the track O, near the switch tongue 10, is covered by a plate O2, whereon the heel way, so as to change the direction of travel for acar that is to pass from one track. to another intersecting track at theswitch.

On the under side of the cover plate O2, two levers 11 are pivoted to depending ears Cs that are projections from the plate, the levers being suitably spaced apart, and held parallel by their connection with the ears. The pivoted connection of the levers 11 is nearer to their ends that' are farthest fromthe tongue 10, and said ends 11a, are upwardly bent, as shown in Fig. 1, so that they may extend a short distance through and above slots made in the cover plate O2. The end portions of the levers 11 that are nearest to the tongue 10, hang `a suitable distance below the cover plate, and have short, concave track-ways lilb produced on their upper edges near said ends.

A bracket frame 12, is secured on the lower side of the cover plate C2V crosswise of said plate, between it and the concave track-ways of the levers 11, and on said bracket frame a tilting arm 13 is pivoted, near its center of length. On the arm 13, near each of its ends, an anti-friction roller 14. is pivoted, which rollers have contact with the concave-trackways 11b, so that the rocking movement of the levers 1l will be transmitted with but little friction to the tilting arm.

A slide bar 15 is pivoted by one end to an ear on the upper edge of the tilting arm 13, said ear being above the pivot bolt of the arm. The bar 15 is loosely supported by a box 16, that hangs from the under side of the cover plate O2, so that the bar will be caused to reciprocate as the tilting arm is rocked.

The slide bar 15 extends toward the tongue 10 at one side of the latter, and has its nnpivoted end loosely connected to the under side of the tongue by a standing pin 17, that passes through a cross slot in the cover plate O2, and engages its upper end with the tongue,

"as shown in Fig. 4t. It will be clear that the alternate depression of the ends 11a on the le- IOO Vers 11, will correspondingly move the tongue 10, so that its point may be thrown into lateral contact with the rails of either intersecting railway track, as occasion may require.

The mechanism provided for each car that traverses the tracks supplied with the improved tongue-shifting apparatus, consists of the following described parts:-On a strong bracket plate 18, that is secured to hang crosswise below on a car A,nearone end as shown in Fig. 5, two bracket blocks 19 of a like form, are pivoted near their inner ends, as most clearly represented in Fig. '7.' Each of the said blocks has an anti-friction roller 2O pivoted on it, so that the perpheries of the rollers will proj ect below the blocks, and be adapted, if either block is rocked toward the road bed of the railway, to contact the roller on said block, with one of the levers 11 at its end 11, which normally projects above the plate C2. v

The outer portions of the bracket blocks 19 are loosely connected by the similar links 21 .with the ends of `a plate spring 22, that is affixed at its middle to the car body near the hanger box 23, which box is attached on the lower side of the car platform A. The said spring 22, that is represented by full and dotted lines in Fig. 7, and also appears in Fig. 5, is designed to hold the bracket blocks 19 level, so that the roller 2O will be about an equal distance from the road bed with which the cover plate C2 is iush, and be far enough above the ends 11L of the levers 11 to avoid touching them unless either bracket block is rocked downwardly.

Near the front edge of the car platform A', and on its lower side, a hanger box 2-1, like the box 23, is secured, and each box has two circular perforations suitably spaced apart, for the reception of the similar rock shafts 25. On the rear ends of the rock shafts an arm 25a, is laterally projected, which arms are preferably curved edgewise, so as to have rounded lower faces that are located on arched top edges of the bracket blocks 19.

At the forward ends of the rock shafts 25, other arms 25b are formed or secured, one on each shaft and outwardly projected, as shown in Fig. 7, these arms being of such a length as will afford proper leverage.

There is a pusher bar 26 provided for each arm 25h, which bars are loosely sustained in an upright position by their sliding engagement with perforations in the car platform, or with any support that may be placed on the platform over the perforations mentioned. Preferably the upper ends of the pusher bars have foot blocks on them for the accommodation of the operator who controls the movement of the car.

In service, when a car running on one track reaches the switch, and is to be transferred to the intersecting track, the operator on the platform A applies foot pressure to the appropriate pusher bar 26, which by its depression rocks one of the shafts 25, which in turn transmits a rocking movement to the bracket block 19 that is directly below it, which causes the roller on said bracket block to strike the rounded end 11a of the lever with which it is in line, thereby throwing the tongue 10 in a proper direction to switch the car from one track to the other. Vhen the car has passed the switch and the end 11a of the lever 11 is released from the apparatus on the car, the gravity of the longer arm of the lever will cause it to move away from the roller on the tilting arm 13, and the lever will assume its normal position. When the pressure is removed from the pusher'bar 26, the parts on the car will be restored to their normal positions by the tension of the depressed member of the spring 22.

Having thus described my invention, I, claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. 1n a railway switching device, the combination with a slotted cover plate over an excavation in the road bed, and a switch tongue pivoted on the said plate, of two pivoted levers extending normally at one of their ends through the slots in the cover plate and having trackways formed on their upper edges near the other ends, a pivoted tilting arm supported from the cover plate and having near each of its ends an anti-friction roller, the said rollers being arranged above the track ways on the ends of the pivoted levers, and

adapted to engage therewith, and a connecting device between theltilting arm and the switch tongue, substantially as described.

2. In a railway switching device, the combination with a slotted cover plate over an excavation in the road bed and a switch tongue pivoted on said plate, of two pivoted levers upwardly bent at one of their ends and extending through the slots in the cover plate, the other ends of the said levers having at their upper edges concave trackways, a bracket frame on the under side of the cover plate, a tilting arm pivoted between its ends on the said bracket frame, anti-friction rollers on the ends of the tilting arm and adapted to engage the trackways on the said levers, a slide bar held loosely on the cover plate and pivoted at one end to an ear on the tilting arm, and a standing pin on the slide bar passing through a slot in the cover plate and engaging the tongue so as to move it laterally when either lever is rocked, substantially as described.

3. In a railway switching device, the combination with a car, of the two bracket blocks pivoted near their inner ends, and each provided with an anti-friction roller, a spring connected by links with the outer portions of the bracket blocks and normally holding the said bracket blocks in a level position, rock shafts having transverse arms at one end bearing on the bracket blocks, and arms at the other end adapted to be engaged by a device on the car platform, substantially as described.

IIO

having arms that press on the upper edges of the bracket blocks, arms on the forward ends 1o of the rock shafts, and pusher bars passing through the car platform and engaging said arms, substantially as described.

WILLIAM L. cEIsLER.

Witnesses: y

WM. P. PATToN, JNO. M. RITTER. 

